Sugar, spice, and everything nice: that's what little girls are made of. Add in a dose of Chemical X and you've got the Powerpuff Girls, a trio of crime-fighting tots with some freaky-cool super powers and huge bug eyes. They're also really, really cute. Like, painfully cute. Sickeningly cute. But they're also tough. Kick-ass tough. 450-lightning-fast-punches-per-second tough.
Actually, that's a fairly apt description of the Powerpuff Girls series itself, one of the many jewels in Cartoon Network's crown. Created by Craig McCracken in 1998, the show has equal doses of humor, heart, razor-sharp comic timing, kicky visuals, and good old-fashioned anime-style butt kicking. It's this potent mix that makes The Powerpuff Girls such a riot, and the same applies to the movie. Released in 2002 to a rather pithy box office take (read: bomb), The Powerpuff Girls Movie is nonetheless a great way to kill 80 minutes.
In case you're new to the whole PPG phenomenon (and it is indeed a phenomenon, now a multi-million dollar industry spawning every conceivable form of merchandise from keychains to breakfast cereals), the story goes like this: Professor Utonium set out to create three perfect little girls by mixing the above ingredients. However, he accidentally spilled some of the mysterious Chemical X into the mix, and the Powerpuff Girls resulted. These little tots can fly, run at amazing speeds, shoot laser beams out of their eyes, and even talk to squirrels (well, one of them can). Unfortunately, during their first day at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten in the city of Townsville, they get into a, shall we say, "rough" game of tag. Much property damage ensues as the girls fly around, smash into buildings, tear up the roads, and just generally trash the whole town with their super-powered shenanigans. No one in Townsville is impressed, the girls are labeled "freaks" and become social outcasts, and they soon end up wandering the streets of Townsville on their own. Hope arrives in the form of a mutant monkey named Mojo JoJo, but unfortunately, Mr. JoJo is not all that he seems....
The series' trademark visual style is here in full force, and with some slick CGI added to the mix in certain scenes. The colors are bright, the animation is simple and effective, and the action is as fast and furious as ever (if you thought Pokemon was seizure-inducing, get a load of THIS stuff). The plot is fast-paced and funny, with some hilarious pop-culture references that may require a second viewing to fully register (let's just say that Bill Maher and Van Halen are involved, not to mention King Kong) . The last 20 minutes of the film are delightfully chaotic (so....many....monkeys), and the whole production oozes cleverness and fun. The creators set out to make the best possible movie they could, and they've passed with flying colors.
The DVD includes some great extras, including "character interviews", director commentary, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and even the Dexter's Laboratory short "Chicken Scratch", shown in theatres with the movie. Overall, it's a great rental, and an even better buy if you're a fan. Either way, check it out. It's by no means an animation breakthrough, but The Powerpuff Girls Movie is a blast from start to finish, and that's good enough for me.
My Grade: 8/10
Actually, that's a fairly apt description of the Powerpuff Girls series itself, one of the many jewels in Cartoon Network's crown. Created by Craig McCracken in 1998, the show has equal doses of humor, heart, razor-sharp comic timing, kicky visuals, and good old-fashioned anime-style butt kicking. It's this potent mix that makes The Powerpuff Girls such a riot, and the same applies to the movie. Released in 2002 to a rather pithy box office take (read: bomb), The Powerpuff Girls Movie is nonetheless a great way to kill 80 minutes.
In case you're new to the whole PPG phenomenon (and it is indeed a phenomenon, now a multi-million dollar industry spawning every conceivable form of merchandise from keychains to breakfast cereals), the story goes like this: Professor Utonium set out to create three perfect little girls by mixing the above ingredients. However, he accidentally spilled some of the mysterious Chemical X into the mix, and the Powerpuff Girls resulted. These little tots can fly, run at amazing speeds, shoot laser beams out of their eyes, and even talk to squirrels (well, one of them can). Unfortunately, during their first day at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten in the city of Townsville, they get into a, shall we say, "rough" game of tag. Much property damage ensues as the girls fly around, smash into buildings, tear up the roads, and just generally trash the whole town with their super-powered shenanigans. No one in Townsville is impressed, the girls are labeled "freaks" and become social outcasts, and they soon end up wandering the streets of Townsville on their own. Hope arrives in the form of a mutant monkey named Mojo JoJo, but unfortunately, Mr. JoJo is not all that he seems....
The series' trademark visual style is here in full force, and with some slick CGI added to the mix in certain scenes. The colors are bright, the animation is simple and effective, and the action is as fast and furious as ever (if you thought Pokemon was seizure-inducing, get a load of THIS stuff). The plot is fast-paced and funny, with some hilarious pop-culture references that may require a second viewing to fully register (let's just say that Bill Maher and Van Halen are involved, not to mention King Kong) . The last 20 minutes of the film are delightfully chaotic (so....many....monkeys), and the whole production oozes cleverness and fun. The creators set out to make the best possible movie they could, and they've passed with flying colors.
The DVD includes some great extras, including "character interviews", director commentary, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and even the Dexter's Laboratory short "Chicken Scratch", shown in theatres with the movie. Overall, it's a great rental, and an even better buy if you're a fan. Either way, check it out. It's by no means an animation breakthrough, but The Powerpuff Girls Movie is a blast from start to finish, and that's good enough for me.
My Grade: 8/10